Clawed Hopper
Clawed Hopper was a walkerbot that competed in Series 4 and 5 of Robot Wars. It was notably the first walkerbot to win a battle in the UK Championship, against Twister in The Fifth Wars. Design Clawed Hopper was a heavyweight walkerbot designed to resemble an insect, painted yellow in Series 4 and green in Series 5, and armed with a pair of steel claws which moved up and down with the robot as it walked. Its walking mechanism consisted of a rectangular frame that moved in an elliptical pattern, featuring spikes on the underside which provided traction for the robot to move forwards and backwards. The robot's body was made from steel and aluminium along with other scrap materials and mounted on a spinning turntable, which allowed Clawed Hopper to turn swiftly with a zero-degree turning circle. In Series 5, a chain-operated 13kg spinning drum was added to each side of Clawed Hopper capable of spinning at 5000rpm. A pair of rollbars was added on top to allow it to roll back onto its feet in case it was flipped. Its top speed was 2mph. Clawed Hopper enjoyed all the advantages of being a walker - it was a powerful pusher (capable of pushing Hammer & Tong with ease) and its walking frame's gyroscopic movements helped it recover from being flipped. However, it was slow (even in victory) and vulnerable from the side. Etymology Clawed Hopper's was most likely a pun on the word 'clodhopper', referring to both a type of heavy shoe, and a type of Canadian candy. Indeed, the robot would later enter Techno Games simply under the name Clod Hopper. Robot History Series 4 Clawed Hopper participated in Heat J of the Fourth Wars for its first televised appearance. In the first round melee, Clawed Hopper was placed up against fellow newcomers Hammer & Tong and the number fourteen seeds Bigger Brother. In the battle, Bigger Brother flipped Clawed Hopper onto its side, but not quite enough to flip it over. Clawed Hopper's walking movements were enough to cause the walker to land the right way up. Bigger Brother withdrew and Hammer & Tong pushed into Clawed Hopper, whose walking movement and weight allowed it to easily overpower Hammer & Tong, pushing it very slowly back, whilst Hammer & Tong's weapon cut through thin air. Clawed Hopper slowly advanced on Hammer & Tong, who managed to press down on it with its weapon but not inflict any damage. Bigger Brother rejoined the fight, flipping Hammer & Tong up several times, as Clawed Hopper walked off the floor flipper. Bigger Brother's flipper had insufficient strength and degree of opening to get the wide bodied Hammer & Tong over on its back, so it moved back and attempted to flip Clawed Hopper again, with Clawed Hopper's weight and movement thwarting the attempt once more. Clawed Hopper continued its ponderous advance on Hammer & Tong, but Bigger Brother moved in, getting significantly more flipper beneath the walker, and managed to flip it on its back. Bigger Brother then attacked Hammer and Tong and dragged it around the arena while Dead Metal and Sgt Bash closed in on Clawed Hopper. Despite attempts to use its legs to bash Dead Metal's saw away, Clawed Hopper was attacked and put on the flame pit. Dead Metal then put it on the arena floor flipper where due to its weight it didn't go very far, but it still did not land the right way up. Dead Metal then attacked it one last time before cease was called. Series 5 Clawed Hopper returned for the final Heat of Series 5, and was placed up against the experienced Team Berserk with their new machine Twister. In the battle, despite its slow, sluggish movement, Clawed Hopper eventually met Twister near the centre of the arena, where one nudge from the hefty Clawed Hopper saw Twister break down immediately. Twister was subsequently counted out by Refbot and then Clawed Hopper very slowly pushed Twister towards the open pit of oblivion, and eventually got the former Heat Finalists down it. For the first time in Robot Wars, a walker was through to the second round of the main competition. However, in the second round of the Heat, Clawed Hopper stood very little chance, fighting the number two seeds Pussycat. Pussycat buried its blade into Clawed Hopper's spinning flail several times, severing the chain and causing it to break. Eventually one of the flails stopped spinning and then fell off entirely. Clawed Hopper survived to a judges' decision, but Pussycat was declared the winner of the battle, eliminating Clawed Hopper from the competition. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 1 *Losses: 2 Series Record clawedhopper pits s5.jpg|Clawed Hopper in the pits ClawedHopperTeam.jpg|The Clawed Hopper team Outside Robot Wars The team also entered Techno Games with a sprinting robot called Clod Hopper, which was a large shoe-shaped robot which featured a similar walking mechanism to Clawed Hopper, complete with turntable. Its name and design were a direct play on the 'clodhopper' shoe. Trivia *Clawed Hopper was the first walking robot to both compete in the main competition, and later became the first to win a battle. *Clawed Hopper is one of only two walkerbots to have progressed beyond the first round in the main UK series. The other is Series 6 Heat Finalist Anarchy. *Clawed Hopper was the only walkerbot to compete in the main UK tournament twice. *In the Series 4 recap and Battle Card, the 'e' was omitted from the first half of Clawed Hopper's name, meaning that it was spelt Clawd Hopper. *Of the fifty robots to return from Series 4 to compete in Series 5, Clawed Hopper was one of only ten to perform better in its Series 5 appearance. The others were Razer, Bigger Brother, Firestorm 3, Diotoir, Prizephita Mach 2, Kat 3, Reactor, Rick and Destruct-A-Bubble. *According to Andrew Hughes in the team's Series 5 introduction, Clawed Hopper weighed more than all three team members put together. *Both of Clawed Hopper's losses involved a robot that reached the semi-finals of the previous series and both of those robots were or went on to become runners-up in the UK Championship (Pussycat finished as runner-up in Series 4 and Bigger Brother would finish as runner-up in Series 5). They both also won a side competition at some point. *Both of Clawed Hopper's appearances were in a heat that was broadcast after a heat that Destruct-A-Bubble appeared in. Honours Category:UK Series competitors Category:Walkerbots Category:Robots with more Losses than Wins Category:Robots from Devon Category:Robots with Drums Category:Robots with Spikes Category:Competitors in Techno Games Category:Robots to appear in Battle Cards Pack 1 Category:Robots with puns for names Category:Animal Based Robots Category:Robots with rollover designs Category:Robots which debuted in Series 4 Category:Robots based on Bugs Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Extreme Warriors Season 1